Lincoln Fabrics: Alleged Continued Zylon Supply After Degradation Warnings

Lincoln Fabrics agreed to pay $4 million to resolve allegations that it kept supplying Zylon after warnings that the fiber degraded, weaving fabric for bulletproof vests the government said quickly lost their protective capability. The United States alleged that Lincoln knew about the defect and kept selling the material for body armor.

The Department of Justice announced the settlement on February 12, 2010. It covered Lincoln Fabrics Ltd., a Canadian weaver, and its American subsidiary.

What Lincoln Fabrics Supplied

Lincoln wove Zylon fiber manufactured by Toyobo into ballistic fabric for the body armor industry. Vest manufacturers then used that woven material in the products sold to law-enforcement buyers. The Department of Justice identified Second Chance Body Armor, First Choice Armor and Point Blank Body Armor among the companies whose vests contained Lincoln’s fabric.

This is the practical problem behind government purchases of defective goods: a shipment can contain the named product while failing to deliver its promised performance. Here, the government’s allegation concerned the loss of the very property for which ballistic fabric was bought. Protection.

What the Government Said Lincoln Knew

The United States alleged that Lincoln knew Zylon was defective by at least December 2001 but continued selling it for ballistic armor until August 2005. According to the government’s account, Zylon rapidly lost its ability to stop bullets, particularly when exposed to heat and humidity.

The endpoint matters. In August 2005, the National Institute of Justice issued a report finding rapid degradation in Zylon used for ballistic applications. The Lincoln settlement announcement says American body armor manufacturers stopped using Zylon at that point. The government’s allegation placed Lincoln’s knowledge well before that public finding and its continued supply right up to it.

We see an ugly bargain in that allegation: the fabric keeps moving through the business while the officers wearing it carry the risk. The buyer was paying for protection, and the alleged defect attacked that protection during use.

What Are the Indicators of Government Procurement Fraud?

For continued-supply allegations, the central indicator is a contradiction between what the supplier knows about a product’s performance and what it continues selling. In Lincoln’s case, the government paired an allegation of early knowledge with later sales for the same protective use.

A dated warning can explain what reached the business. Customer communications can show what the business said afterward. Supply records can connect those decisions to the fabric that went into the vests.

We examine those connections with the person who understands the work. The question is what the warning meant for the product being sold, who understood it and how the subsequent sales reached government-funded purchases. Your knowledge of the fabric, testing or customer relationship may be the part that makes those records intelligible.

Why the Vests Were a Government Procurement Matter

Federal money reached the vests through direct purchases and partial reimbursement of other public buyers. The Department of Justice said the United States bought vests containing Lincoln’s woven Zylon. State, local and tribal law-enforcement agencies also bought them and received partial federal reimbursement.

The government therefore pursued the weaver over its role in goods sold farther down the chain. That is why someone upstream from the final invoice could hold important information about what taxpayers funded.

Our work on the evidence behind a government payment connects purchasing records to the supplier’s representations and the goods themselves. In a fabric case, that means following the material into the finished product rather than stopping at the weaver’s immediate customer.

How the Lincoln Case Ended

Lincoln’s settlement resolved the United States’ lawsuit over alleged False Claims Act violations and included a promise to cooperate in the wider body armor investigation. By the announcement, the United States had already settled with six other participants in the Zylon body armor industry for over $54 million. Lincoln’s agreement was another part of an investigation that reached across the supply chain.

The Department of Justice’s Civil Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia participated in the investigation, alongside agencies including the General Services Administration Office of the Inspector General.

Other Zylon Suppliers, Different Decisions

Barrday provides the closest comparison to Lincoln because it also supplied woven Zylon fabric. In its separate Barrday settlement announcement, the government alleged that the weaver knew about degradation by December 2001 but supplied fabric until approximately 2003. The contrast is in the alleged continuation of supply: Lincoln’s sales reached the later industry stopping point.

The fiber manufacturer’s information supplied another part of the story. The Department of Defense Office of Inspector General’s Semiannual Report to the Congress for April through September 2018 described the separate Toyobo investigation. The allegations included knowledge that normal heat and humidity degraded Zylon, continued marketing and misleading data that understated the problem. The report also described an alleged public relations campaign after Second Chance recalled some Zylon vests in late 2003.

In its account of those allegations, the inspector general explained why the information coming from the fiber manufacturer mattered:

Lincoln’s alleged decision concerned continuing to supply woven fabric after learning of the defect. What the fiber maker said, what the weaver knew and what the vest seller told its customer can be different parts of the story.

How Much Money Can a Whistleblower Get From a Qui Tam Lawsuit?

A whistleblower case under the False Claims Act can pay 15% to 30% of what the government recovers. A procurement whistleblower reward starts with a case connecting what the insider knows to the government money affected. For a weaver such as Lincoln, that connection runs through another company’s finished product.

You Know What Followed the Warning

If you know who received a degradation warning and why the fabric kept shipping, talk with our whistleblower experts about the sales you saw. We work beside you to build the case around that knowledge and bring in government procurement whistleblower lawyers who understand defective-product claims. From the first conversation onward, we connect the technical problem to the purchasing decisions to build your strongest government procurement whistleblower case.